I'm sure Shannon will take some time to explain this, but she broke her toe last week...or badly bruised it. It seems like one of us is always struggling or getting hurt with something during our training. I pulled a muscle last Friday. I had one of those days when I felt really good, and I was running faster than what I had been running. I had to jump up over a curb because a car was coming, and I pulled a muscle down the center of my calf. Thankfully, some ice made it feel much better. At least my injuries are running related. She is just clumsy, but I will let her tell you about it...haha.
We were able to run 6.2 miles again this past Saturday. Shannon even ran with a broken toe. She is one tough cookie. I think I would have wimped out and taken a few days off. She is the type of woman who will do something you say she can't just to prove you wrong. I tell people all the time that she is more competitive than I am. Of course, they think I am just being funny because I am ultra competitive. It really is no joke. She is so competitive that when you tell her she can't do something, she will do it just because you said she couldn't.
Shannon...
Yes, I'm pretty sure I broke my toe after our short run on Friday...if it isn't broken, it's severely bruised. This is the problem with being clumsy AND having ginormous feet (I wear a size 10 shoe, but am only 5' 3"). I lost my balance in my bedroom and somehow the edge of the bedrail caught my little toe and didn't think it needed to hit the floor with the rest of my foot. OUCH! It hurt. It swelled up and bruised pretty quick. For those of you who love to see the nasty details, I took pictures for you.
Even with a possible broken toe, I still ran our 6.2 mile long run Saturday morning. (For the record, I am competitive, but not NEARLY competitive as my husband!) Many of you are probably thinking, "WHY? It's early in your training, take a week off, let the toe heal, you will be FINE!" As true as that may be, I wanted to run. My injured toe is on my right foot...I run on the inside of my right foot, so really, my toe didn't really hurt when running. I just had to be careful running up hills since I have a tendency to sprint up on my toes, and I had to be careful transitioning from road to curb. It did slow me down by a full minute per mile compared to last week's 6.2 mile run, but I got it in and am happy I did. No regrets.
For me, getting as many miles and long runs in as possible before our big race day is important, but the main reason I wanted to run is because I have very few runs where I get to run the entire distance with my good friend and training partner, Angela. Angela is running St. Jude with me, but she is only doing the half marathon. We will have to part ways at mile 12 on race day :-( . Angela trained with me for the half marathon I ran back in April. She and I have a similar pace and have grown as distance runners together. We were reminiscing about how far we have come in our ability to run while getting that long run in on Saturday. Back in February, at the beginning of our half marathon training, neither one of us had much stamina or endurance. We averaged a 13.5 minute mile, struggled to run any further than a mile before we had to walk or stop and stretch. We also could not carry on a conversation while running. When we got to the point where we could push through the pain and run a majority of our runs without stopping, we were perfectly content running side-by-side and listening to our music with no talking. This past Saturday, we ran pretty much all 6.2 miles, talked almost the whole way, and it was so enjoyable! I can't even tell you what we talked about, but for this momma who isn't around adults too often; it was just what I needed. I run better with her than without. She is definitely the iron that sharpens me :-) ...and not just when it comes to running. I am excited to know that as my long runs get longer than Angela's, my good friend Julie will get to join my for our long runs. I'm just hoping I can keep up with her. She has run a marathon before, so I know running with her will push me to a new level!
I promised you pics of my lovely toe...you're welcome ;-)
And here is a picture of me and my sweet friend Angela, after we finished the RussVegas Half Marathon in Russellville, AR. We finished at about an 11:30 pace. Definitely an improvement from the 13:30 pace we started our training with!
One more thing...I have to brag on us...it rained for a good part of our long run on Saturday. The thunder that started rumbling helped our last mile to be our fastest. Now we know that we can run in the rain and we won't melt ;-)
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